Ibom Air has denied any involvement in the release of a viral video showing a passenger in a state of indecent exposure during a recent in-flight altercation.
The airline’s Group Manager for Marketing and Communications, Aniekan Essienette, clarified in an interview with TVC News on Monday that although the incident occurred on one of their flights, no Ibom Air staff member was responsible for sharing the footage.
Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, had earlier directed that sanctions be imposed on any Ibom Air employee found guilty of leaking the video. He explained that while recording the incident for use as evidence in court was acceptable, releasing footage containing indecent exposure to the public was “totally unacceptable.”
Essienette further noted that although the recording took place onboard one of the airline’s aircraft, several people present in the area were not Ibom Air employees.
“As much as the video was taken on board, we had several other people who were not Ibom Air employees around the vicinity. So, anyone could have taken that video,” she said.
“I can tell you categorically that the video was not released by us. It is rather unfortunate that it has gone viral.
“We do not condone such indecent exposure, so we would not have been the ones to release it.”
The manager explained that the passenger was forcefully removed from the aircraft after resisting instructions to disembark.
“She had tried to come out earlier, but she was restrained because of some activities that had happened behind the scenes, and eventually, the pilot in command had to call security,” Essienette said.
“For us to ensure that security takes her directly off the plane, our crew had to restrain her for a bit, and we saw what resulted after that happened.”
On the rising cases of disruptive behaviour on flights, she said no airline would “go about their business to humiliate a passenger”.
The Ibom Air official asked the authorities to focus on preventing similar incidents in the future.